Viginia Tech Alma Mater
(second verse with chorus)
The Orange and Maroon you see,
That’s fighting on to victory;
Our strife will not be long this day,
For glory lies within this fray.
So stand and sing, all hail to thee,
V.P., all hail to thee.
fyi – I’ll go back to our original banner tomorrow but today is about remembering and having Hokie Pride.
Filed under by Malia, Virginia Tech
So here it is, our new blog! I’m really excited about it. It’s been fun getting it set up and figuring out what we want to do with it.
You’ll pretty much be hearing from me the same way you did at the old place. The most significant change to my writing will be that I’m going to attempt to do a weekly post about marriage matters. It is my dream to eventually go back to school, get my masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and start working in that field. So I’ve decided that I’m going to explore different aspects of marriage and post about them here.
Our premier feature will be a “He Said/She Said” post where we individually tackle the same topic and see what the results are!
The other change you’ll see is in how we refer to the children. Since I’m leaving the old blog behind, I thought it would be appropos to give them new names. Henceforth they shall be called: JBelle and The GMan.
And of course the biggest change is the addition of David! Let’s see what he has to say about all of this…..
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So, how do you like my ear? Is this really my good side? Do I even have a good side? Thank you for letting me get a word in edgewise Malicious, er, I mean Malia. I apologize upfront to you all for having to put up with my posts in the midst of reading the eloquence that is my wife. The nice thing is you can click on that button that says “By Malia” over there on the right side…no, a little higher….yeah right there, and you won’t have to wade through my tripe….mmm, tripe. Yes, I recycle jokes until they are not funny to me anymore. It’s my one vice.
We had trouble coming up with a name for this blog. We thought of calling it “The Fresh Bowl” or “Malicious and Delicious” or “Pater and Mater Familias” but we finally settled on the highly descriptive “live.laugh.love” because that is how we learned to write in the Virginia public school system, with periods.between.each.word. Or perhaps it was just me who did that. I learned to start sentences with conjunctions too. And to include sentences in paragraphs that have nothing to do with the theme. And I always wondered why I got C+ on all of my AP English papers.
Anyway, enjoy skipping everything I write so that you can read Malia. Really, go ahead, I won’t even notice.
I wasn’t going to have any posts from the old blog here at the new blog. Then on Monday, a very tragic event took place at our alma mater and I blogged about it, at the old blog. It was cathartic and helped me cope on Monday and Tuesday. And since I imagine those events will come up again in the days and weeks ahead of us, I wanted to have those posts here for the sake of continuity. But everything else will be archived…eventually. Once I get that done, I’ll delete the old blog.
I like a fresh start.
Filed under by Malia
I may update this post throughout the day. While watching the news coverage of yesterday’s tragedy, no Hokie can let some of the things that are being said go unchallenged. Some of it’s petty, all of it is my opinion and my experiences. But I need a place to say some of this stuff.
6. I didn’t get to watch much of the convocation. I did see the final few moments of President Bush’s speech. I had already pretty much changed my position on my earlier feelings about this before the time of the convocation, so I won’t bring much of that up. I pretty much figured that in situations like this politicians are damned if they do or damned if they don’t.
5. I have a very specific memory of West AJ from my freshman year at Virginia Tech. I’m debating whether or not to share it. In light of the recent events, it’s almost sick and twisted but still very funny and poignant for David and I. I’ll think about it some more before maybe posting it.
Here it is:
I was not a direct witness of this event, it was recounted to me later in the same evening. Our college group from church was involved in an intense game of “tag”. There were some specific rules regarding when and where you could tag a person. One was, you could not tag them within their residence hall. And once you are tagged, you are out. So, we’re down to the final few participants and one of the remaining players was hiding out in her dorm room in West AJ. The story goes that one of the players put a bag of microwave popcorn in one of the microwaves in West AJ (each floor had a kitchenette with a microwave in it), set the timer for like 10 minutes and waited. Sure enough after several minutes, the fire alarm went off. You absolutely must leave the residence hall in the event of a fire alarm, no excuses. The player was “smoked out” of her residence hall and promptly tagged.
4. The reason I was in Blacksburg this past weekend was for the 40th anniversary/reunion of Chi Delta Alpha, the service sorority that I was a member of while at Virginia Tech. I received an e-mail from the current president of the sorority, all sisters and pledges are accounted for, none of them were physically harmed yesterday. This was the one piece of information I was still waiting for and I feel immensely better knowing they are all “okay”. Praise God!!
3. I have some very pointed feelings about President and Mrs. Bush attending the convocation this afternoon but David has encouraged me to wait until after it’s over to say anything about it.
2. They, the media talking heads, keep telling everyone how quickly one can get from West Ambler Johnston (West AJ) to Norris Hall. Yes, it’s true that if you’re walking at a good clip, you can make it in 5-10 minutes depending on your speed. However, we don’t know what path the shooter took. There are several places he could have “hung out”, there are several paths he could have taken. Fact is, we will probably never know what he did in the two hours between the West AJ shootings and the Norris Hall shootings. So stop assuming that he went directly from West AJ to Norris Hall and that police should have been able to stop him. We just don’t know where he went or what he did in that time period.
1. The official name of that large university in Blacksburg, Virginia is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, however it has for a long time now been known simply as Virginia Tech. NOT Virginia Tech University. Please stop putting “University” at the end. Nobody affiliated with the school adds “University” to the name. (David made a point of telling Amy Rao that yesterday afternoon.)
*This post originally appeared on my old blog. I figured that David and I would be talking more about Virginia Tech and the tragic events that occurred there, so I’ve brought the post from the old blog over here for the sake of continuity.
Filed under by Malia, Virginia Tech
I’m so sad. My heart hurts. The tears keep coming.
Thank you so much to all who have commented here, called and e-mailed.
Yes, I was interviewed by NewsChannel5’s Amy Rao. I guess Nashville got a look into my “blog central”. Ugh.
When I was a student, my favorite time of day on campus were the fleeting moments of sunset and twilight. The sun going down over the mountains, the colors reflecting off the Hokie stone on the buildings. The air had a quietness about it, a calm peacefulness even though campus was always buzzing with activity.
Will Virginia Tech ever have that again?
I hope so.
*This post originally appeared on my old blog. I figured that David and I would be talking more about Virginia Tech and the tragic events that occurred there, so I’ve brought the post from the old blog over here for the sake of continuity.
Filed under by Malia, Virginia Tech
My heart aches right now for the entire Virginia Tech community. I have been worried about friends and family, concerned and distraught at each news story that indicates the story is worse than we knew before, grieving and mourning for those lost and those left behind. Those are all appropriate in this situation.
However, the most shocking emotion I have felt today is shock and disgust at the crass nature with which this story has been treated by people from the paid media to bloggers to message boards. That is not something I expected to deal with in this time.
In life, there are seasons and a time for all things, we are told. A time to enjoy great victory and a time to mourn and grieve great loss. Unfortunately, our society, for some reason, has become one that doesn’t allow for this space of time to occur. We are in too much hurry to get on with it, dissect whatever it is and move on. Maybe it’s the 24-hour news cycle, maybe it’s the constant connectivity that makes all things now, I really don’t know, and frankly, don’t care right now.
What I do know is that spaces of time are necessary in life. You don’t get to fast forward to the conclusion of the situation.
One good example recently was the Billy Donovan to University of Kentucky story. Everyone was in a hurry to say that Donovan was definitely going to UK after the Final Four (and eventual championship) was over. In the post-game interview of the national championship game with the floor still sweaty from the game, the questions were peppered at Donovan as to whether he was going to UK or not. I loved his answer….I want to just live in this moment, right now, I’ll worry about that later. For now, I am going to enjoy this.
Is it too much to ask to let people breathe and just be? Can we allow people space to mourn and grieve or even enjoy great triumph without comment? Must we dissect every detail of an event even while it is still occuring? While I am shocked and question why anyone would find a reason to shoot at least 32 people dead, at the same time, I question a society that wants to insert politics or humor or anything except condolence and sympathy for the families involved on the very day such a tragedy occurs. Indeed, the falcon can not hear the falconer.
Filed under by DB, Virginia Tech
Update #10 – One more, I just got an e-mail from Tanya and they are fine and all at home.
Update #9 – I just saw on FoxNews.com that the death toll is 32. I don’t think I can keep these updates up. I’m crying so much I can barely see the screen. I think I need to take a break from the computer.
Update #8 – When I was driving around Blacksburg this past weekend, I noticed that the lamp posts on Main Street, had banners that said, “A Special Place – Blacksburg”. That’s so true. Blacksburg is a special place. It’s a small town that has retained it’s small town nature even though there are 26,000 students milling about! Even though this incident happened on campus, it will affect the entire community. Virginia Tech is an amazing university. I loved being a student there. It’s so diverse and so beautiful and there is so much opportunity and potential held on that campus. I never felt unsafe on campus. I remember my freshman year we had a “peeping tom” incident in my residence hall, they put locks on the bathroom doors on the girls’ floors (it was a co-ed dorm, guys/girls every other floor) and gave us keys. It was annoying and our privacy had been violated but I never felt scared or unsafe.
I just can’t imagine what the school is going to do. Finals are slated to begin in a few weeks. Seniors are gearing up for graduation.
I’m very sad.
Update #7 – I just got to talk to Jennifer Brooks from the Tennessean. That was nice, to be able to talk to someone about this.
Update #6 – I’m so horrified. I’ve stopped shaking, mostly. I’ve been crying on and off. This is just so hard to comprehend. It’s so surreal to me since I was just there this past weekend for a reunion. I just can’t imagine what the students and their parents and families are going through right now. I drove by West AJ – when I was a student, I lived in Lee which is just two buildings down the street. I drove around the drillfield, by Norris Hall. It was such a great weekend and now there is such sorrow.
UPDATE #5 – 22 DEAD!!!!!! And several, 17-21 injured. This is crazy. Y’all, I’m shaking as I type this. I can’t believe this has happened. I was just there! What is happening?????
Update #4: Lisa’s blog
Hoping to hear from Tanya soon!!!
Update #3:
WDBJ7 – Roanoke – A shooter has been caught, they are still reporting one fatality and several injuries. There is a suspected second shooter.
So far I’ve found one blog from someone currently on campus: Southern Girl – sounds like she’s grad student.
Update #2: There’s been a second shooting, this time at an academic building. Still reporting only one fatality, but multiple injuries.
Update #1: Here’s another link.
original post:
Last August, a felon was on the loose in Blacksburg.
This morning there’s been a shooting on the Virginia Tech campus!!
I was just there this past weekend. This is scary stuff. I have family and friends in the area. Please be praying!
*This post originally appeared on my old blog. I figured that David and I would be talking more about Virginia Tech and the tragic events that occurred there, so I’ve brought the post from the old blog over here for the sake of continuity.
Filed under by Malia, Virginia Tech
This one, where the picture is first, or the post below this, where the picture is last?
I’m trying to figure out how to get my picture to come up with a post so that you know that I’m the one who wrote the post.
live. laugh. love. 